Boatworks

Is the water potable? How’s the holding? Where’s the nearest chandlery? These are no longer the first questions posed by cruisers arriving in a new port. Nowadays, our first questions revolve around a more crucial topic: the Internet!

Looking for an innovative way of keeping your batteries trickle-charged, without adding a cumbersome and expensive fixed solar panel? SolarSail could be your solution.These rollable solar films attach to your boat's canvas via supplied fasteners (mounting instruction included), allowing you to easily stow them when you collapse your canvas. The monolithically integrated panels are made

Sometimes it can be tricky to find a good place on board to mount a solar panel. Here’s a neat idea from the German company Sunovation, which fits its solar cells to deck hatches; there’s something organic about a gizmo that both blocks sunlight and uses that same light to generate power. The photo shows a Gebo hatch fitted with semi-transparent Sunways power cells that generate about 16 watts in

Busted fresh-water hose? Leaking oil line? Thanks to Harbor Products’s self-amalgamating, silicone-based Rescue Tape, these problems are just a few wraps away from being solved. Rescue Tape forms a permanent seal, is waterproof and air-tight, insulates against up to 8,000 volts of electrical current, can resist 700 psi of pressure, and can survive temperatures up to 500F, all of which make it a

For canvas covers and dodgers to work correctly they need to be tight. Unfortunately, getting a drum-tight fit often means trouble snapping down the fasteners. Surefas has solved this problem with its ingenious Q-Snap, a device that functions like a normal press fastener, except it comes equipped with an extra ring on the underside of the fastener and a small hook on the deck. Sliding the extra

This new air conditioner from Dometic won’t cool your entire boat down—unless it’s a rather small boat—but it’s ideal for a sleeping cabin or a small saloon. The self-contained 3,500-Btu unit measures 91/4" @ 15" @ 8" and will fit in a locker or under a V-berth. It’s powered from the boat’s house batteries via an integral inverter that also lets you connect other 115-volt appliances to it. It

Purosol’s enzyme-based Sport/Marine cleaner is formulated to break down organic salts without harming coated lenses or displays. The manufacturer claims that Purosol breaks down the bonds that allow salt, dirt, and grime to adhere to a surface, without damaging antiglare coatings or a display unit’s porous screen. $7.95. Origin Laboratories, 626-568-1100,